Cherries have long been used in food and drink production due in part to their distinct flavor. Some of the earliest records indicate that cherries have been consumed since prehistoric times as a source of nutrients as cherries are high in carbohydrates. Cherries are often consumed in their unaltered state, but they have also been an ingredient in almost all forms of food for human consumption, although desserts are the most popular. Cherries are often used in pies, tarts, doughnuts, cakes, cobblers, cookies and even in carbonated and alcoholic beverages, more recently, it has been discovered that cherries also contain anthocyanins which may act as a natural anti-inflammatory. These anthocyanins are also a good source of antioxidants, which can help the human body reduce free radicals and arguably lend to a longer, healthier life. Due to their taste, nutritional and therapeutic value, cherries are still grown and consumed in many parts of the world. Recent estimates suggest that over 2 million tons of cherries are grown and cultivated worldwide.
While the cherry is consumed in great numbers, as shown above, the structure of the fruit itself provides a challenge to the consumer. Evolutionarily, the cherry tree proliferates by utilizing a method similar to other fruit trees, a seed surrounded by an attractant. The cherry tree produces the cherry seed surrounded by the sugary, sweet-tasting fruit in order to attract animals. The animals would, in turn, take the cherry, eat the fruit and drop the seed. In many instances the seed would reach the soil, which would allow for the proliferation of the cherry plants. While this method has worked for thousands of years, it also makes the use of cherries in recipes and for raw consumption difficult due to the cherry seed or pit, which is at the center of the cherry. As a result, several cherry pitters have been manufactured that are able to remove the pit from the center of the cherry, allowing for the cherry's use and consumption.
Several cherry pitters are and have been in the market and the concept of the cherry pitter is not, itself, new. However, while the cherry pitter has been in the market for years, they all fail to provide an enjoyable cherry pitting experience. The cherry pitters on the market today mainly utilize one of two designs: the thumb plunger and the pivot axis designs. The basic thumb plunger cherry pitter can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 719,131 to E. D. Parker. This design utilizes a cherry holding member which has integrated finger holes and a molded cherry holder with pit passage and a plunger which has an integrated thumb hole or thumb pad and a pitting tip. In operation, a person wanting to pit the cherry would place a cherry on the molded cherry holder and then place their fingers in the finger holes and use their thumb to depress the plunger, thus driving the pitting tip through the cherry and pushing the pit through the pit passage. While this design in somewhat simplistic, it also leaves a great deal to be desired. In using this design, there is no protection for the errant finger to be placed in the path of the depressing pitting tip. This may put the operator's or other's fingers at risk of injury. Further, this design allows for cherry juices that are expelled by the depressing plunger to flow anywhere in the surrounding area, potentially allowing the juices to flow onto any surrounding clothing or furniture. Further, the thumb plunger design often is not easy to use as it requires the operator to place the cherry correctly in the molded cherry holder and continually depress the plunger. Further, these types of pitters are not ergonomic as they require the operator to continually use their fingers to hold, and depress the plunger, which can contort the hands into unnatural positions and cause fatigue in the hand muscles, reducing the number of cherry pittable during a pitting session. Some designs utilize a spring to return the plunger to an open position; however, while the spring acts as a return, it also provides additional resistance to the travel of the plunger thus making it even harder to depress the plunger. Finally, these designs act to push the cherry pit through the pit passage into open space, in other words, there is no receptacle for the cherry pit and thus, during the pitting, cherry pits may be strewn about the area in which the operator is pitting.
The other main cherry pitter design utilizes a pivot axis to assist in removing of cherry pits. These designs utilize two main pivoting arms that are connected at one end, providing a pivot axis. On one of the arms, is a molded cherry receptacle and a pit passage. On the other arm a cherry pitting plunger is affixed. The pitting plunger may have a pitting tip. In operation, an operator would place the cherry into the molded cherry receptacle and close the two arms, causing them to pivot towards each other and driving the plunger downwards toward the cherry. The plunger would push through the cherry forcing the pit through the pit passage on the opposite arm. In addition, many of these designs have a spring mechanism near the pivot access which preferences the pivoting arms into an open position. Further, various embodiments of this design have a mechanism that will lock the pivoting arms into a closed position for storage. This locking mechanism is often a blocking piece of material that fits inside the back portion of the pivot axis, forcing the pivoting arms into a closed position. However, this blocking piece may easily dislodge and allow the pivot arms to move into the open position, thus causing problems if the cherry pitter is stored in a drawer with other utensils. The basic pivot axis cherry pitter can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 688,065 to J. A. Crandall. This design also suffers from many of the problems the above-referenced plunger design. The pivot axis design provides no finger protection and arguably allows more finger access, making the device potentially dangerous in use. Further, the cherry juices may be expelled with greater velocity given the force allowed by the pivot axis. Further, while this type of plunger may be slightly easier to use, it still requires the operator to place the cherry correctly in the molded cherry holder and continually depress the plunger. These types of putters don't require the use of the fingers to depress the plunger; however they still require a gripping motion to pivot the two pivot arms. Thus the operator may still become fatigued quickly. Further, these designs still push the cherry pit through the pit passage into open space, thus the cherry pit that is removed from the cherry it not retained or controlled.
Recently, other designs have come onto market that attempt to ease the process of cherry pitting. These designs utilize a gravity feed hopper, which attempts to automatically “guide” the cherry into a pitting station. The pitting station may then have a plunger which the operator can depress. The plunger may have a pitting tip which pushes the pit into a receptacle below. However, these types of cherry pitters are potentially dangerous to operate as the hopper may not center the cherry correctly and thus, when plunging, there is the possibility of partial pitting of diffraction which may propel the cherry and/or pit in a random direction. In addition, these types of pitters still fail to protect operator fingers and fail to prevent cherry juice from being propelled in various directions. Finally, these designs require awkward body positions in order to depress the plunger, potentially leading to use injury or other body stresses.
Given the various disadvantages outlined above, a need exists for a cherry pitter that is easy to use, safe, ergonomic and able to manage cherry juices and waste effectively.